I get inspiration, a lot of times, from very commonplace things that just strike a chord and develop themselves in the subconscious.

I think we fought Vietnam for the benefits of civilization, and certainly we fought it to oppose authority. To show our authority, to show we weren't weak. Isn't that what Nixon kept saying? "We have to show the world that we're not weak." So of course what we ended up showing the world was that we were, yep, weak. 'Cause we couldn't beat these kids in black pajamas.

Like all sweet dreams, it will be brief, but brevity makes sweetness, doesn't it?

Too often, in novels that are speculative, God is a kind of kryptonite, and that's about all that it is, and it goes back to Dracula, where someone dumps a crucifix in Count Dracula's face, and he pulls away and runs back into his house. That's not religion. That's some kind of juju, like a talisman.

If it's OK to register cars and license drivers, why is it not OK to impose similar legal responsibilities on gun owners?

The color white is the absence of memory.

Everything in moderation. And that includes a couple of beers a day.